May Willock. My great grandmother. Edna’s mother.

Who was she?

My DNA results point to one of two sisters – Miriam or Mabel Willock.

But which one?

Either of the girls could reasonably have gone by the name May Willock; Miriam perhaps had May as her middle name, or May could be a shortened form of Mabel.

I started with a look at Mabel’s life. Who was she? Could she be May Willock?

She sure had a fascinating life…

Mabel was born in 1888 in Trunkey Creek, about 55km south of Bathurst, New South Wales. Its about 165km south of Wellington, where May Willock said she was from.

Bathurst is gold country. And bushranger country.

Mabel’s eight siblings were born in various locations between Trunkey Creek and Molong, which is about 65km from Wellington.

In 1910 in Lismore in northern New South Wales, Mabel gave birth to a baby boy named Henry Charles Willock. Henry’s father was not named in the record. By about this time Mabel’s parents and siblings were living at Mallanganee, about 70kms from Lismore.

In 1912 Mabel gave birth to another baby boy, this time in Sydney. His name was Frank Barnett Willock, and his father was not named in the record.

In 1914, Mabel gave birth to a baby girl in Lithgow, 60kms east of Bathurst. Her name was Phyllis Jean Willock, and her father was not named in the record.

Phyllis Willock’s marriage record says her parents were Mabel Willock and Francis Barnett Levy, theatrical manager, and that Phyllis was going by the surname Levy, not Willock.

I couldn’t find any record of Mabel marrying Francis Barnett Levy (or any other man for that matter) but I did find out plenty about Francis Levy.

Francis, or Frank, or Barney Levy was travelling the country throughout the 1910s and 1920s following in the footsteps of his father, promoting theatre events and vaudeville shows. He had a wife in Melbourne but he was never at home so she took him to court and had him charged with deserting her.

Francis wasn’t in Sydney much either. He was everywhere from Hobart, to Queensland to New Zealand, constantly moving.

Mabel was home alone with her children.

1922 was a very bad year for Mabel Willock aka Mabel Levy. First, she got mixed up with some bad company.

The article suggests that because Mabel’s husband was always travelling, Mabel had left him, was drinking a lot and was living with a man named Harlie Dempsey.

Harlie (or Harley) Dempsey was born in Bathurst and Mabel might have known him from her days growing up in the area. Harlie came from a family of boys who were small time criminals. He had served in WWI, been injured and didn’t seem to be able to hold down a job. His brothers Jack (not the boxer!) and Ron were committing crimes of the sort that earned an occasional stint in prison.

Mabel said she was ‘keeping him’ meaning paying for him. On this occasion he stole £80 from her and when she had no more money to give him, he bopped her in the nose! I wonder where her money came from in the first place. Was Francis Levy sending her money? Or her parents?

Throughout 1922, Mabel Levy was in court on charge after charge – from cashing fake cheques to obtaining money under false pretenses, to running off without paying. It was always a small amount of money. She was often acquitted but eventually the courts had enough.

Out on bail, Mabel absconded to Melbourne. I wonder whether she was looking for some help from Francis. The police had warrants for her arrest, which happened in Melbourne, and she was brought back to Sydney to face up to a lot of charges.

And serve a three month prison sentence.

If Mabel was out drinking or on the run or in prison and Francis Levy was on the move, where were her three children while all this was going on?

After the prison sentence in 1923, Mabel’s life was quiet for a while until one night in November 1930…

Despite the dramatic news article, Harlie didn’t die of his wounds. He lived until 1971.

Mabel died of cancer in 1932, when Edna was 23 and having children of her own.

Mabel’s last address was just a few streets away from where Edna was living.

Could Mabel have been Edna’s mother?

She was about the right age at about the right time.

She left a trail of babies with an unnamed father in the birth register.

Edna could have been the first of them.

Except that Edna was born in August 1909 and Mabel’s son Henry was born in April 1910, just eight months later – which means she isn’t likely to have been Edna’s mother.

The funny thing is, I’m sure I’ve seen Mabel Willock before.